Guild Wars 2 #1 - A game for everyone

Helo friends.

My wife and I like to relax ourselves, among other things, by playing MMO game online. Lately we seem to find that Guild Wars 2 (or GW2) suit our need perfectly.

For us, the main advantage of GW2 is shortness of whatever you do in the game. There is no long wait for any game content (except some guild or group events). Basically, the longest wait time is around is few hours at worst, and in mean time there's tons of other content to play around. Most of the time and for the most things in game, there is no waiting period except for the time to gather the party. Here are some helpful links to timers for the game:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Event_timers ,
http://gw2timer.com/?page=Chains&section=Timetable
Additionally, game has area level cap and it down-level you to appropriate level, so even if you are level 80, in area that you are currently you will be appropriate level and can be easily killed by surrounding mobs. This gives you opportunity to replay content with your friends that are lower level then you and join in other player's story without ruining your or their experience.

GW2 is free to play but you need to buy the game if you want to expand on game content. When you buy the game, you have some benefits and can use game expansion content. Here you can check all the differences:
https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/230165307-Account-types-Free-Core-HoT

Buying the game, you are able to exchange in-game gold for gems (shop currency) that are used to buy shop stuff, armor and weapon skins and items, various enhancements and even game expansions.

In the beginning, you will not feel the difference for free and Heart of Thorns account.

Story
Every character, depending on your choice during creation, has unique story paths. So if you make 2 humans, chance is that they will have different story lines if you did not use same choices. The story leads you through maps and is dictated by your level. When you get to certain point, it will inform you that you need some level for it to continue. My advice is to return to previous map that is not 100% explored and finish, and all others until you get to desired level.

Map PVE
On the map there are few things you can do.

1. You can explore and reveal waypoints (diamond shape icon), point of interests (small square icon) and areas (no icon but covered with fog of war so to speak).
2. You can finish map quests aka. HEART quests that give you karma rewards (useful for getting better gear and recommendation on saving them for higher tier gear)
3. You can find and finish Hero point quests (yellow arrow shaped icon)
4. You can find and finish small jumping puzzles called Vista (a icon with two triangles one on top of the other) , that are basically points that reveal landscape of an area and are pictured and animation when activated.
   
   

By finding all of this on a single map, you get 100% map completion that rewards you with some bonus stuff.

Additionally, you can:

1. You can chase and finish random map events (sunshine icon on the map)
2. Kill various boss monsters and participate in other map events
3. Farm resources for selling or crafting (good idea is to gather everything while you explore)
4. Raid boss hunting (buy using event timer)

Dungeons PVE
Reaching level 30, you are ready to enter story mode of the 1st dungeon and from level 35, real dungeon paths. Higher dungeons require higher level in order to enter but can be replayed later, since game has down-level option. Every dungeon has 3 paths (with one exception) and there are 8 dungeons which makes around 25 of different roads and situations. Every run is around 20-30 min in average. By doing them, you gather some items that are different for every dungeon and are used to buy good gear so you need to see what gear you need and what dungeon to frequent more often. This site can, in general, give you pointers and ideas on how to make your character and what are characters usually used for. https://metabattle.com/wiki/Fractal. My recommendation is to read builds meant for fractals or raids if you are into PVE mostly and PVP and conquest of you plan to PVP more often. Dungeon trader is shown on a picture below.

Fractals
There are around 15 fractals that are essentially different kind of dungeons with some additional difficulty. You can start from level 60 (maybe earlier on paid account but until 35-40 or until you have good mastery u would not recommend it) but usually its good idea to get good gear before going in and that means level 80. Regardless, you will be up-leveled to level 80 when you enter them. Runtime of fractal is also 20-30 min and for some even less. There are good rewards for it and the higher tier the fractal is (1,2,3 or 4) the rewards are better. Here you can gather items to buy top tier ascended weapon and armor. Purple marked fractals are daily fractals that give extra bonus if you finish them all.

Raids
Really serious gaming content and hard as hell. Usually, best done with guild group because other players can be really demanding and no one wants beginner in group. For this you will need top tier gear (ascended armor, weapon and trinkets) and character that is build by current meta and to know to play your character and to know the mechanics of raids. Raid usually last about an hour with all the preparations but it may vary.

Meta-events in Heart of Thorn maps
Large scale events that are usually organized by other players. There are a lot of events that are preparation for the main event, usually killing of a raid boss for nice loot. After the event, there is after-event that is different from map to map (it can be race, or chest opening event). Here you can gather items and points to progress through heart of thorns campaign.

Edge of the mist and Mist Wars PVP/PVE
Basically it’s a PVP type map but is like capture the stronghold or something. There is a mass PVP when you are in group or you can roam the land searching for a victim to kill. Its great way to have fun and gather many useful items while practice PVP skills in a group.

PVP
Participating in organized PVP matches and tournaments. It's not really my thing so I have no hints to add on this.

For WvW, there is a catch however. You need to be on same server in order to be on the same team so you need to be on the server that your friends play on. Usually that is not a problem since if you started free account and then upgraded to HoT, you get one free transfer. But, you can find the like minded players on your server so that usually is not a big problem. For PVP however, as far as i know, there is no problem of this kind.

The goal of the game can be divided into two. One is to learn and make char for raids and gear it up accordingly, and two is to learn PVP and to equip char for that aspect of the game.

Also, getting legendary weapons and armor is another good goal of the game and playing each race story is really fun and interesting.

Finding good guild is also important, especially for raiding or other group content stuff. Open Community is nice example of large organized guild. Its best to find it early because you can get help and learn a lot. Also, if you feel like it, you can join the ranks and be commander for some events (leading them and organizing them).

Seams that there is no dull moment in GW2 whether you like exploring, gathering achievements, dressing your character the way you like (since fashion is really awesome in GW2) or preparing for PVP or organizing and leading various events in a guild.

Good luck and have fun :)

Check out my youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkLQ9JGB-Ch5LAmnFB3revA

Raka,
19.07.2017